The Fly Trap
A Memoir
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A Nature Book of the Year (The Times (UK))
“The hoverflies are only props. No, not only, but to some extent. Here and there, my story is about something else.”
A mesmerizing memoir of extraordinary brilliance by an entomologist, The Fly Trap chronicles Fredrik Sjöberg’s life collecting hoverflies on a remote island in Sweden. Warm and humorous, self-deprecating and contemplative, and a major best seller in its native country, The Fly Trap is a meditation on the unexpected beauty of small things and an exploration of the history of entomology itself.
What drives the obsessive curiosity of collectors to catalog their finds? What is the importance of the hoverfly? As confounded by his unusual vocation as anyone, Sjöberg reflects on a range of ideas—the passage of time, art, lost loves—drawing on sources as disparate as D. H. Lawrence and the fascinating and nearly forgotten naturalist René Edmond Malaise. From the wilderness of Kamchatka to the loneliness of the Swedish isle he calls home, Sjöberg revels in the wonder of the natural world and leaves behind a trail of memorable images and stories.
Customer Reviews
The fly trap
This book is charmingly quirky and obscure. It vacillates between numerous genres. The writing has a poetic quality and is translated fairly well. All in all this is a great book for anyone who is interested in philosophy, art, nature, adventure or just someone who wants a break from the increasingly uniform books of today.